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Introduction

Pakistan is a country of South Asia. Established under traumatic circumstances, modern Pakistan was carved from British India in 1947. At first Pakistan included two sections: West Pakistan and East Pakistan. In 1971, however, civil war broke out, and East Pakistan became the new country of Bangladesh.

Pakistan is one of the world’s major Islamic countries. It is in effect the only remaining vestige of the Mughal Empire of Islamic rulers from whom the British wrested control in the 18th and 19th centuries. The capital of Pakistan is Islamabad. Area 340,499 square miles (881,889 square kilometers). Population (2017 est.) 198,679,000.

Land and Climate

Pakistan is bounded by Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the northwest and north. It shares borders with China on the northeast and with India on the east and southeast. The coast of the Arabian Sea forms Pakistan’s southern border.

Pakistan is divided into three major natural regions. They are the northern highlands, the Balochistan plateau, and the Indus River plain.

Natural Regions

The northern highlands of Pakistan are a region of some of the most rugged mountains anywhere. Huge glaciers and roaring rivers traverse a landscape of the highest relief. The Himalayas sweep across northern Pakistan in a great arc. They stretch from northern India in the east to the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan to the west and north. The Karakoram Range and the Great Himalayas of Pakistan are the world’s greatest masses of high mountains. The northern highlands pass westward into the Hindu Kush and western border ranges of Swat, Dir, and Chitral. The low Khyber Pass, through which so many famous conquering armies have passed, is at the north end of the Koh-i-Safed Range. Farther east the Lesser and Sub-Himalayas are at progressively lower elevations. They include the Margalla Hills above Islamabad. From here the Potwar Plateau extends southward to the Salt Range and westward across the Indus River to the basins of Peshawar, Kohat, and others.

The Balochistan plateau of western Pakistan is a varied arid landscape of mountains, plateaus, and basins. Except for the Toba Kakar Range, which is dotted here and there with juniper, tamarisk, and pistachio trees, most of the mountains are naked and bleak. They are eroded by rare but torrential desert rainstorms. However, little water ever reaches the dry basins, or hamoon, between the ranges.

The Indus River plain has two subdivisions that roughly correspond to the provinces of Punjab and Sind. The northern part is traversed by the five rivers of the Punjab. The word Punjab comes from panj (“five”) and ab (“water”). From northwest to southeast the tributaries to the Indus are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers.

Climate

Pakistan is in the warm temperate zone. It is generally arid (dry), with hot summers and cool to cold winters. The winds in winter blow northeast to southwest and reverse in summer to bring the monsoon. The cold-weather season from December through February is characterized by somewhat low temperatures. During that time, some precipitation sweeps across Iran and Afghanistan into Pakistan. The dry, hot-weather season lasts from March through May and into June. In that season the daily temperatures can rise under the hot sun to the middle 120s ° F (low 50s °C). This heat causes progressively lower pressures that pull the monsoon winds and rain from the Indian Ocean from June through September. Temperatures decrease, but the humidity increases so that it feels little different. In October and November the high pressures and cooler temperatures reestablish themselves to produce a comfortable autumn.

Mean annual rainfall is under 5 inches (13 centimeters) in northwestern Balochistan near Iran and Afghanistan and in much of Sind toward India to the east. Precipitation rises to more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) in the foothills and mountains of the Great Himalayas. In the rain shadow to the northeast, beyond these ranges, precipitation declines to a few inches in the deep, arid valleys. In those valleys, summer temperatures commonly rise above 100 °F (38 °C).

Plants and Animals

The forests, shrubs, and grasses of Pakistan are classified into three main groups. The Saharo-Sindian flora is predominantly tropical or subtropical. This diverse group includes mangrove coastal swamps, desert and savanna scrubs, and seasonally flooded aquatic or semiaquatic species. The Irano-Turanian flora is composed of areas of semiarid open shrublands and forests. The forests include such trees as the pencil junipers, pistachio, ash, and Chilghoza pines. This type of plant life extends well into the dry mountain valleys of the Himalayas. It includes spruce, willow, and other woody species. The Sino-Japanese flora makes up a narrow belt that extends across the well-watered foothills and lower frontal ranges of the Himalayas. It includes horse chestnut, hazel, cherry, several oak species, and various pines, spruce, and cedar.

Pakistan’s expanding human population and the resultant decline in natural habitat has boded poorly for its wildlife. Several species have become extinct since they were first reported in the 19th century. Limited governmental protection is provided for endangered species. Among the unusual animals present are the snow leopard of the high mountains, common leopard, Marco Polo sheep, Indian wild ass, Balochistan bear, and blind Indus dolphin. Other rare or endangered species include the green sea turtle, crocodiles and gavials (crocodile-like reptiles), weasels, otters, lynx, and hyenas. Numerous bird species are known, including many migratory water and game birds. The Indus delta complex is a wintering area for them. The country’s wildlife also includes the gray goral and Himalayan tahr, which are species of wild goats. Among the other mammals are various rodents, bats, insectivores, and primates. Of the hooved mammals, the urial (a type of wild sheep), ibex, and markhor goats are the most common.

People and Culture

Pakistan is one of the most populous countries in the world. About four-fifths of the population lives in the riverine tracts of Punjab and Sind. The high population, coupled with the country’s relatively small area, results in crowded conditions, especially in the major cities. About 40 percent of the population lives in urban areas. The country’s largest cities are Karachi and Lahore. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Peshawar, and the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan is divided into four provinces, largely on the basis of linguistic groups: Punjab, Sind, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier. Pakistan also administers portions of the Kashmir region in the northern mountains. (India and China control other parts of that region.) Balochistan is the largest province, but Punjab is the most populous. Along the border with Afghanistan are the seven federally administered tribal areas of Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurrum, and North and South Waziristan. These areas are basically outside direct administration by the government because they maintain their independence by direct force of arms.

Ethnic Groups

The people of Pakistan are largely a mixture of Indo-Iranian lineage. Although the official religion of Islam is basically egalitarian (marked by equality), cultural and social concepts of status and caste are still prevalent. The principal ethnic groups are the Baloch, Pashtun, Punjabi, and Sindhi. Each group is further divided into numerous subunits. By and large these groups are based in their own provinces, but large numbers are over the borders in neighboring Iran, Afghanistan, and India. Each of the main groups has its own language. In addition, there are numerous other ethnic groups and mountain tribes as well as muhajirs, or emigrants from India following partition, and Bihari refugees from Bangladesh. The close proximity of the diverse ethnic groups in the growing cities has sometimes resulted in violence.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, additional pressure came from millions of refugees fleeing a series of wars in Afghanistan. Many of these refugees returned to their home country in the early 1990s. With renewed conflict in Afghanistan, however, the number of refugees in Pakistan again grew. A great many have remained in refugee camps in the border areas as well as in Pakistan’s cities.

Religion

Robert Harding Picture Library

Although Pakistan has small populations of Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists, the vast majority of Pakistanis are Muslims. From its inception in 1947, the country defined itself as an Islamic republic. The religion of Islam, however, is complex, with many divisions and controversies.

Most Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect, the major branch of Islam. There are also significant numbers of Shiʿite Muslims. Among Sunnis, Sufism is extremely popular and influential. The Shiʿite branch has numerous subsects, one of the most successful of which is the Ismaʿilis. The Ismaʿilis are further divided into the Mustaʿlis and the Nizaris.

The Ahmadiyyah Islamic sect was formed in India in 1889. The high literacy rate and general industriousness of the Ahmadiyyah won the sect considerable economic success. Traditional Muslims, however, have long considered the Ahmadiyyah to be heretical because it does not regard Muhammad as the final prophet. This has led to considerable ill will and persecution. In 1974 the government of Pakistan declared the Ahmadiyyah to be non-Muslim.

Languages

Urdu is the country’s official language. It evolved during Mughal rule as the working language between the Muslim rulers—who spoke Persian or Turkish—and the people, who spoke different languages in different areas. Urdu is very similar linguistically to the Hindi language spoken in neighboring India. Urdu is the native tongue of less than 10 percent of Pakistan’s people, however, and it is unfamiliar to many. Punjabi is the most common language, spoken by about half of the population. Pashto, Sindhi, and Saraiki are also important languages. Access to the world community of scholarship, business, and development is perceived to be through the English language. English is used as the lingua franca, or common language, in such settings. Only about 10 percent of the population is conversant in English, however.

Culture

Most rural homes in Pakistan are made of mud or mud-brick, though concrete and fired brick buildings have become more prevalent. Traditional dress for both men and women consists of the shalwar kamiz—loose cotton trousers and a long or short shirt or skirt worn over the pants outside. Women usually wear a long dupatta, or light shawl, draped around the head and shoulders. Among conservative Muslim communities, women sometimes wear a burqa, a full-length garment that may or may not cover the face. Women in traditional villages tend to be secluded according to strict Islamic custom.

In contrast to the more traditional lifestyle that is followed in rural areas and small villages, many Western customs have been adopted in the cities. The family remains the most important and fundamental social unit. Families in Pakistani society are patriarchal, which means that the father or eldest male has authority over the family. Although young people may adopt Western styles of clothing and other habits, they continue to respect and obey their fathers and elders. Marriages are often arranged, in the belief that close family alliances have a greater chance of success than Western-style couplings.

Architecture and the Arts

The most-ancient cultural remnants in Pakistan are from the Indus Valley culture that flourished from 4,000 to 5,000 years ago in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Brick buildings, jewelry, and various utensils have been unearthed there. Perhaps the most spectacular of the ancient work is that of the Gandharan civilization, dating back about 2,500 years. It was this civilization that Alexander the Great traveled from Greece to conquer. Taxila in northwestern Punjab was a great and influential center of Buddhist architecture, sculpture, education, and religion. Stupas, monastic establishments, and stone carvings from this period dot the northern plains and mountains.

Frederick M. Asher

Most of the greatest surviving architecture, arts, and handicrafts of today, however, trace back to the Muslim influence that began more than 1,000 years ago. Pakistan’s mosques, tombs, shrines, forts, and formal gardens are among the world’s largest and most beautiful. The finest examples date from the Mughal period of about 500 to 200 years ago.

Traditional arts and handicrafts are diverse and linked to tribal cultures. The weaving of cotton, wool, and silk is an important traditional art. Block printing of fabrics, mirror work, embroidery, and carpet making are done all over Pakistan. Pottery is an essential craft and is painted after low-temperature firing. Hammered copper and brass, woodwork, lacquer, jewelry, leather work, and inlays in iron and brass add to the rich artistic culture. Fine miniature paintings, decorative calligraphy paintings, and inlaid tile work on buildings also add great beauty.

A wide variety of tribal dances, songs, and music are performed in Pakistan. Musicians also perform ragas, a type of composition in the classical music of South Asia. Traditional musical instruments include various drums, pipes and flutes, sitars, and the mouth harp. Pakistanis revere fine verse, and one of their great heroes, Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), was not only a poet-philosopher but was instrumental in the formation of the country.

Education and Social Welfare

Education in Pakistan is not compulsory. Since independence, Pakistan has increased the number of primary and secondary schools, and the number of students enrolled has risen dramatically. The vast majority of the population, however, has received no formal education. Thus, the literacy rate is low. Roughly three-fifths of Pakistanis 15 years of age or older can read and write. The rate is considerably lower among women than among men. Part of the country’s frustration with education stems from a problem of communication. The use of Urdu, which is not widely spoken, as the primary language of instruction in schools has caused difficulties.

For those students who do complete their schooling, education has had a disappointing relationship to future job prospects. The result is a high level of frustration among educated job seekers. Emigration of trained people is common. Ensuring the return home of Pakistanis sent abroad for higher degrees is also a problem. Special incentives in land and salaries have been implemented to attract Pakistanis living overseas back to the country.

Although Pakistan has made progress in improving health conditions, a large part of the population does not receive modern medical care. There are insufficient numbers of doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas. Sanitation facilities are also inadequate. Only a small percentage of the population has access to safe drinking water and sanitary sewage-disposal facilities. Special taxes are used to provide social welfare funds, which the government distributes to organizations involved in social welfare activities or directly to needy persons. The number of nongovernmental organizations in the country and the use of private religious endowments to assist the needy have been increasing. Those efforts have been most notable in the fields of education and basic health care.

Economy

The Pakistani economy was primarily agricultural at the time of independence in 1947. Today, the economy is considerably more diverse. Agriculture, though still important, is no longer the largest component of the economy. Services, including trade, finance, and government, now constitute the largest sector. Manufacturing has been a mainstay of the economy for several decades. Manufacturing industries remain a significant contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced during the year. Overall, Pakistan’s economic performance compares favorably with that of many other developing countries. Pakistan has managed to maintain a fairly steady annual growth rate since independence.

Agriculture, Fishing, and Forestry

Pakistan is among the largest countries lacking sufficient precipitation to support dryland cropping. For more than 3,000 years it has been an agricultural center based primarily on irrigation from the Indus River. Today the country has the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system. More than 35 million acres (14 million hectares) can be irrigated by bringing water through thousands of miles of canals and farm and field ditches. This massive irrigation effort causes waterlogging and brings in salts that form toxic plant-killing crusts in farm fields. The government has made numerous efforts to combat these problems.

Farming methods in Pakistan are generally traditional, with most farms small and fragmented. Hand labor and draft animals are common despite dramatic increases in the number of tractors, small threshing machines, and other agricultural equipment.

Food crops are essential to the large population. Wheat is the country’s staple food. Rice is the other major food grain. Other food crops include corn (maize), potatoes, onions, chickpeas, and various spices. Mangoes, oranges, apples, bananas, and various melons are among the fruits that are grown. The major commercial crop is cotton. Other cash crops include sugarcane, peanuts, and oilseeds such as rapeseed (the source of canola oil), sunflower seed, and safflower seed. Despite production of these seeds, the country is dependent on imported vegetable oils.

Animals provide draft power as well as food, dung fuel, manure, wool, and hides. Overgrazing is rampant, especially in arid Balochistan. However, the sheep and goats that are raised provide not only a cash crop but also much of the meat that is eaten locally. There are also cattle, water buffalo, donkeys, camels, horses, and mules. Commercial chicken farming is also an important industry.

The contribution of fisheries to the national income has risen. Fishing activity is centered in Karachi. Part of the catch of lobster and other shellfish is exported.

Forests are a significant resource in this arid country, and wood is very expensive. Illegal deforestation is widespread and difficult to control. The removal of protective vegetation is responsible for widespread soil erosion and flooding. Because government forests produce only a small portion of what is needed to meet the demand, much wood is imported.

Industry

The geologic history and structure of Pakistan suggest the existence of significant mineral resources. The exploration of the country’s mineral wealth is far from complete, but a wide variety of minerals have been located. Coal mining is one of Pakistan’s oldest industries, but the quality of the coal is poor. Iron-ore deposits are also mostly of poor quality. Large deposits of copper ore have been located, but most sites remain unexploited. Enormous reserves of easily exploited limestone form the basis of a large cement industry. Other minerals that are exploited include chromite, barite, gypsum, rock salt, and clays.

Pakistan has some petroleum reserves, but demand has far outpaced the domestic supply. Therefore, petroleum and petroleum products are leading imports. The country has good reserves of natural gas and meets much of its demand with domestic production. The largest natural gas deposits are at Sui, on the border between Balochistan and the Punjab. They were discovered in 1953. Gas from Sui and other smaller fields is delivered around the country by pipeline.

Pakistan’s other main energy source is hydroelectric power, which is produced by harnessing the country’s rivers. Pakistan’s main source of hydroelectricity is the giant Tarbela Dam, which spans the Indus River at its exit from the Himalayas. Nuclear power supplies only a very small percentage of the domestic demand for electricity.

Manufacturing is important to Pakistan’s economy, providing about one-eighth of the GDP. Initially Karachi was the center of Pakistan’s industrialization efforts after independence. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lahore and the cities around it began to industrialize rapidly. Manufacturing soon became one of the largest sectors of the country’s economy. The chief industries today include textiles, food manufacturing, chemicals, cement production, transport equipment, and petroleum refining. Woven carpets are a major household industry. Woven cloth, embroidery, and fancy needlework are also important handicrafts, as are leather goods, pottery, furniture, and metalwork.

Services

Service activities account for a significant portion of the country’s jobs and national income. The government has traditionally been a major employer. Pakistan has a well-developed civil service. Defense agencies and public utilities also provide many jobs. Though finance contributes a relatively small value to the GDP, its growth rate in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was considerable. Pakistan has a variety of state-owned, private, and foreign banks.

Trade is a vital activity, employing a significant proportion of the workforce. There has been a trend toward increasing exports. The country, however, has a chronic annual trade deficit, with imports often outstripping exports. Principal exports include cotton and manufactured textiles, rice, petroleum products, and leather goods. Major imports consist of machinery, chemicals and chemical products, crude oil, refined petroleum, food and edible oils, and motor vehicles. Pakistan’s most important trading partners are the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and China.

Transportation and Communications

Pakistan’s railways cover more than 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers). Most are in the Indus Valley, from Karachi to the Punjab. A few lines run into the North-West Frontier. Another line branches westward across northern Balochistan to the Iranian border.

Buses and trucks have replaced railways as the principal means of long-distance transport in Pakistan. The country has about 165,000 miles (265,000 kilometers) of road, the great majority of which is paved. The rest consists of graveled or unimproved track. All the main cities are connected by major highways. Pakistan is connected to each of its neighbors, including China, by road.

Pakistan is served by numerous international airlines as well as its own Pakistan International Airlines, which provides both international and domestic service. International airports are located at Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Lahore. Prior to the early 1990s, the domestic airline industry was regulated by the state. After deregulation, several privately owned airlines began to operate in Pakistan.

Ocean shipping is extensive through Karachi, on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The city’s port handles most of Pakistan’s imports and exports. The cities of Gwadar and Qasim also have ports that handle a share of the country’s trade.

Pakistan enjoys good international telecommunications links via satellite and fiber-optic lines. The availability of domestic telephone service has improved. Few households have fixed telephone lines, but cellular phone use has increased dramatically. Internet connections are available though not widespread. Radio and television networks are controlled largely by the government. However, access to satellite television is growing.

Government

Since the adoption of its first constitution in 1956, Pakistan has undergone radical changes in its government. The current constitution dates from 1973, but it has been substantially amended several times. Under the terms of the constitution, a president serves as chief of state and a prime minister serves as head of government. Both must be Muslim. The bicameral, or two-chambered, parliament consists of a lower house (the National Assembly) and an upper house (the Senate). A portion of the seats in the National Assembly are reserved for women and non-Muslims. The National Assembly, the Senate, and assemblies representing the country’s four provinces elect the president to a five-year term. The president is limited to two consecutive terms. The National Assembly elects the prime minister. Judicial matters are handled by the Supreme Court, provincial high courts, and district courts. Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president. Pakistan also has a Shariʿah court, which oversees matters relating to Islamic law.

In 1997 Pakistan’s prime minister pushed through two significant changes to the constitution. The first revoked the president’s power to remove a sitting government. The second gave the prime minister the authority to dismiss from parliament any member not voting along party lines, effectively eliminating the National Assembly’s power to make a vote of no confidence. In 1999 a military government again came to power, and the constitution was suspended. The chief executive of that government initially ruled by decree and was made president in 2001. In 2002 the constitution was reinstated following a national referendum, though it included provisions (under the name Legal Framework Order [LFO]) that restored presidential powers that had been removed in 1997. Most provisions of the LFO were formally incorporated into the constitution in 2003.

History

The Early Republic

Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The history of Pakistan as a separate country began in 1947 when the Indian subcontinent gained independence from Great Britain. At that time, it was partitioned (divided) into the two countries of Pakistan and India. This separation was the culmination of events set in motion by the formation in 1906 of the All India Muslim League, which sought political rights for Muslims in India. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, called Qaid-i-Azam (“Great Leader”), served as the league’s president. He was the main force behind partition. At first he worked with India’s Congress Party for a free united India, but the Muslims doubted that a Hindu majority would respect their rights. In 1940 Jinnah demanded a separate Islamic state. When the British departed in 1947, Pakistan came into being as a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Karachi was made the administrative capital. Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) later became the legislative capital. Jinnah ruled as governor-general until his death in 1948. (For earlier history, seeIndia.)

When the British left, millions of Hindus fled to India, and millions of Muslims poured into Pakistan. This left Pakistan with a shortage of trained workers, because the Hindus had held most of the skilled jobs in both business and the professions. Religious riots broke out in both countries. An inconclusive undeclared war was fought over the Kashmir region. Pakistan gained control over the northwestern portions, including Gilgit, Baltistan, and Azad (“Free”) Kashmir. India retained the Vale of Kashmir.

In 1956 Pakistan adopted a constitution under which it became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In 1958 General Mohammad Ayub Khan came to power in a bloodless revolution. He was elected president in 1960. He proclaimed a new constitution in 1962. Pakistan’s administrative capital was moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi in 1959 and then to Islamabad in 1967.

In 1960 Pakistan and India agreed to share the waters of the Indus River system for irrigation. The Kashmir dispute erupted again in 1965 but was ended by a United Nations (UN) truce in 1966. In 1968 Pakistan was swept by strikes and political violence. The threat of economic and political chaos led President Ayub Khan to resign in 1969. He turned control over to a military regime headed by General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, who suspended the constitution, declared martial law, and promised reforms.

Late 20th Century

In 1971, after a brief civil war and invasion by India, East Pakistan split away and became Bangladesh. President Yahya Khan resigned. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the deputy premier and foreign minister, became president. In 1972 Bhutto nationalized (or put under national control) some major industries. He also withdrew Pakistan from the Commonwealth when some member states recognized Bangladesh. In 1974, however, Pakistan granted diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh, and in 1989 it rejoined the Commonwealth.

When a new constitution was adopted in 1973, Bhutto became prime minister, but political unrest continued. A military coup led by General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq deposed Bhutto. Martial law was declared once again. Bhutto was found guilty of political murder in 1978 and was hanged in 1979. A strong hand against the populace inspired protests through 1985. Limited civilian rule returned with the election of Muhammad Khan Junejo as prime minister. Zia remained in power as president. In May 1988 Zia fired Junejo and dissolved the parliament. He decreed that the Islamic legal code was the sole law.

REUTERS/Alamy

Zia was killed in a plane crash in the summer of 1988. That fall Pakistan held National Assembly elections. In December, Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of the executed former premier, became prime minister. Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected president. Ethnic unrest continued over the next few months. In August 1990 Bhutto was removed from office by Khan, who accused her of corruption. She was replaced as prime minister by Nawaz Sharif. In a close 1993 election, however, Bhutto was returned to office.

Escalating political and ethnic unrest battered Bhutto’s ambitious plans for social reform. In May 1994 violence erupted in Karachi as members of a national movement of muhajirs—Muslim immigrants from India who had settled in Pakistan after partition—demanded recognition as a distinct ethnic group. The muhajirs lobbied for greater autonomy for the city. Political activists were arrested—and many were jailed—without being formally charged with a crime. In addition, violent sectarian disputes between Shiʿite and Sunnite groups wracked the country. Rampant drug trafficking further darkened Pakistan’s image. Backed by the chief of army staff, Bhutto’s government defended itself against an attempted coup in October 1995. Opposition to Bhutto gained momentum throughout 1996, however. Her government was ousted late in the year.

Elections in 1997 returned Sharif to the office of prime minister. Sharif and his supporters in parliament passed constitutional reforms that eliminated the president’s power to dissolve the government in times of crisis. The reforms also rescinded the president’s right to appoint military commanders and provincial officials. The reforms gave those powers to the prime minister instead. President Farooq Leghari resigned from office in protest over Sharif’s reforms.

R. D. Ward/U.S. Department of Defense

In May 1998 India’s testing of five nuclear weapons turned the attention of the Pakistani government to international concerns. Despite calls for restraint from the international community, Pakistan chose to respond to the implied nuclear threat by conducting its own nuclear tests. The tit-for-tat nuclear testing threatened to spark an arms race between India and Pakistan. A combination of international pressure, including economic sanctions, and a desire to curtail an arms race brought India and Pakistan to the negotiating table in August and September 1998. In their first face-to-face meetings, Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to abide by the international moratorium on nuclear testing.

Meanwhile, urban unrest, rising crime, and the deteriorating economy eroded support for Sharif. In October 1999 the army chief of staff, General Pervez Musharraf, suspended the constitution and arrested Sharif on charges of treason. (Sharif was later exiled to Saudi Arabia.) Musharraf installed himself as chief executive of a new military government. He promised that he would eventually hold elections and transfer power back to civilian leaders.

Early 21st Century

Musharraf’s government faced a number of problems in the early 21st century. The economy continued to falter. Factional violence and crime still plagued the country. Some of the violence and crime was attributed to drug trafficking, but much was ascribed to the presence of Islamic extremist groups and terrorist cells. Targeted and random murders and kidnappings became common events, especially in the cities.

After the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, worldwide attention was focused on terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. This led to increased surveillance of suspected militant activities in Pakistan. Musharraf cooperated with the United States during its invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, leading to a surge of protests and violence from extremist groups in Pakistan. In 2002 Musharraf declared the eradication of violence, crime, and terrorism to be his highest priority. Several militant Islamic organizations were banned, and many activists were arrested. Pakistani officials captured several high-ranking al-Qaeda members operating in the country.

Musharraf also had to deal with the ongoing conflict with India. Terrorist attacks were a regular occurrence in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian authorities attributed them to Islamic extremists supposedly encouraged by Pakistan’s policies. India’s large military presence on the Pakistani border brought the two countries to the brink of war.

In 2002 Musharraf overwhelmingly won a national referendum granting him an additional five years as president. Over the next several years, he survived a number of assassination attempts. In October 2007 an electoral college consisting of the parliament and four provincial legislatures voted to give Musharraf another five-year term. He agreed to step down as head of the military and was inaugurated as a civilian president in November. The following month Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan from exile in order to campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections, was assassinated at a political rally in Rawalpindi. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, took over the leadership of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Zardari guided the PPP to victory in the parliamentary elections that took place in February 2008. Musharraf, facing impending impeachment charges that included a number of constitutional violations, resigned the presidency in August. Zardari easily won the September 2008 presidential elections.

Kevin Frayer/AP

In 2010 Pakistan endured one of the worst natural disasters in its history when devastating floods submerged large areas of the country. Unusually heavy monsoon rains began to fall in July, causing the Indus River to swell to some 15 times its normal width. By mid-August more than 1,500 Pakistanis had died as a result of the flooding. Approximately 20 million people were affected. The Pakistani government faced heavy criticism for its response to the floods. Many viewed the government’s relief efforts as sluggish and disorganized. Although the water levels of the Indus had largely returned to normal by October, hundreds of thousands of people remained in temporary camps for months afterward.

In May 2011 a U.S. military operation in Pakistan killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda network. The assault was launched after U.S. intelligence located bin Laden living in a walled compound in Abbottabad, a medium-sized city near Islamabad. Pakistani officials had often denied claims that bin Laden was hiding out in Pakistan, possibly aided by Islamic militants in the remote and rugged areas on the Afghan border. After bin Laden’s death, the news that he had in fact lived in a large compound in an affluent area of Abbottabad raised questions about how his presence could have escaped the notice of Pakistan’s security forces.

By 2013 there was widespread public discontent over problems such as weak economic development and the ongoing security threat posed by extremist groups. President Zardari and the PPP-led governing coalition entered the parliamentary elections held in May of that year with low approval ratings. The opposition Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) won a resounding victory in those elections. The party was led by Nawaz Sharif, who had been allowed to return to Pakistan from exile in late 2007. In June 2013 Sharif became prime minister of Pakistan for the third time. Under his leadership, the economy improved substantially. Annual growth rates increased, and inflation declined. Outbreaks of extremist violence continued to be a major problem, however. In 2017 Sharif’s third term as prime minister came to an end when he was forced to resign as a result of a corruption investigation. He was replaced by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as prime minister. Sharif and his family went into exile in London.

In July 2018 Sharif was convicted in absentia of having owned assets beyond his income. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Though he denied any wrongdoing, he soon returned to Pakistan to begin serving his sentence. Parliamentary elections were held in late July. In those elections, Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party won a plurality of the vote. The PML-N and other parties expressed concern that the military had interfered in the elections. From prison, Sharif argued that the election had been stolen. Nevertheless, the PML–N conceded, allowing Khan to seek a coalition and become prime minister.

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